For The Love Of Port

My mother-in-law was helping prepare for an estate sale and noticed two decanters. She asked about them and the owner gave them to her to give to me. Yay!

They had been stored for many years, possibly even decades, in an attic or storage room. I have managed to clean up the accumulated grime from their years in storage, but have been stymied by two things.

1) There appears to be a small amount of "normal" wine-related residue inside the decanters. It looks like the kind that very slowly accumulates in my decanters from normal use, but it has resisted my attempts to clean it with hot water and mild soap. The little particles are spread fairly evenly inside the decanter, so scrubbing isn't really an option. I do have a tool that can be used to apply a small amount of scrubbing pressure, but dissolving the particles seems like my best bet. Any suggestions?

2) There are some smears on the outside of the decanters that at first looked like whitewash. They're thin and look like someone who had dirty hands picked up the decanter and left a print and/or a little bit of paint on the decanter. So far, though, they have resisted scrubbing, finger nails, rubbing alcohol, and acetone. So I don't think they're paint or paint related even though that is very much what they look like. I haven't tried scraping with a razor blade or putty knife yet, but I may have to resort to that if nothing else works. What else could I try besides rubbing alcohol and acetone (nail polish remover)?

Have you tried using something such as C.L.R. or the like? Just wash and rinse real well afterwards (and I'd toss in some cheap ruby or tawny as the final step to rinsing).

Try denture cleaner tablets. Maybe double or triple strength and hot water

For the inside, my mom used sand, or some thicker, more abrasive variation of it. Def wash it up first so as to clean any dirt away.

Goof Off also works really well and can remove some of the very stubborn particles. I goes without saying that you'll need to do some SERIOUS rinsing afterwards...

Wine Enthusiast does carry a decanter cleaning "brush". It looks and feels like a long bendable bottle brush with the bristles made of some spongey material. It can be bent to bring a bit of pressure to almost any spot in any shape of decanter. (They also make wineglass cleaning brushes of the same material. Handy when you have a bunch to wash; just bend to the most efficient shape for the glasses you are working on.)

For gentle abrasive, I use rice. Just pour a bit of water and shake hard. If the residues are still there, I use the same technique with big salt grain. Normally it does the job.

I have Wine Enthusiast's cleaning brush. It works fairly well, but this stuff has been dried in place for decades.

Thanks for the suggestions... hopefully one of them will work! Vinegar has also been recommended, so since I have that on hand I'll try it first. Then C.L.R. and/or denture cleaning tablets. I've never heard of Goof Off... is that something I'd find in a hardware store?

Glenn E. wrote:I have Wine Enthusiast's cleaning brush. It works fairly well, but this stuff has been dried in place for decades.

Thanks for the suggestions... hopefully one of them will work! Vinegar has also been recommended, so since I have that on hand I'll try it first. Then C.L.R. and/or denture cleaning tablets. I've never heard of Goof Off... is that something I'd find in a hardware store?

Yup, any decent harware store would carry and I've also seen it in Walgreens, CVS & Ralph's. Its a powerful cleaner (in a small can) and I'm pretty certain that it would do the job.

Agent Orange? Not to be confused with Agent Orange.

Derek T. wrote:Agent Orange? Not to be confused with Agent Orange.

I have experience with the latter, or something similar. In high school I drove a pickup truck and a 10-ton truck distributing farm chemicals (fertilizers, herbicides, etc) and helped manage the warehouse and drove the forklift. One day I showed up for work and the entire warehouse had been pretty much cleared out except for a pallet sitting on the floor in the very center with a single 55-gallon drum thoroughly strapped to it. That drum was NOT coming off that pallet without significant effort. I was intercepted on my way in and told not to go into the warehouse and that I wouldn't be needed to drive that day, but to give me some hours I was sent to wash a couple of semis. No one would tell me exactly what was in the drum or who it was for, other than "it's really nasty stuff." The foreman jokingly called it Agent Orange, but I'm not completely sure he was joking.

Anyway... decanters are soaking with vinegar tonight. We'll see if that does it, and if not I'll move on to C.L.R. or denture tablets!

Frederick Blais wrote:For gentle abrasive, I use rice. Just pour a bit of water and shake hard. If the residues are still there, I use the same technique with big salt grain. Normally it does the job.

I do the same (dry rice and soapy water). Urnex coffee pot cleaner can do wonders too.

The vinegar appears to have cleaned out the insides pretty well, so now I just need something to clean the outside. I'll pick up some heavy-duty cleaning materials this weekend and see what works.

[quote]Glenn wrote:

I have experience with the latter, or something similar. In high school I drove a pickup truck and a 10-ton truck distributing farm chemicals (fertilizers, herbicides, etc) and helped manage the warehouse and drove the forklift. One day I showed up for work and the entire warehouse had been pretty much cleared out except for a pallet sitting on the floor in the very center with a single 55-gallon drum thoroughly strapped to it. That drum was NOT coming off that pallet without significant effort. I was intercepted on my way in and told not to go into the warehouse and that I wouldn't be needed to drive that day, but to give me some hours I was sent to wash a couple of semis. No one would tell me exactly what was in the drum or who it was for, other than "it's really nasty stuff." The foreman jokingly called it Agent Orange, but I'm not completely sure he was joking.[/quote]

I think we may have discovered Glenn's secret to not being affected by corked ports! Think about it....He was exposed to chemicals and was transformed with rare abilities (i.e. into a Super Hero ala Spiderman, and others). So, do you wear a cape when tasting port?

I'd be curious to know if he wore a cape at all!

John M. wrote:[quote]Glenn wrote:

I have experience with the latter, or something similar. In high school I drove a pickup truck and a 10-ton truck distributing farm chemicals (fertilizers, herbicides, etc) and helped manage the warehouse and drove the forklift. One day I showed up for work and the entire warehouse had been pretty much cleared out except for a pallet sitting on the floor in the very center with a single 55-gallon drum thoroughly strapped to it. That drum was NOT coming off that pallet without significant effort. I was intercepted on my way in and told not to go into the warehouse and that I wouldn't be needed to drive that day, but to give me some hours I was sent to wash a couple of semis. No one would tell me exactly what was in the drum or who it was for, other than "it's really nasty stuff." The foreman jokingly called it Agent Orange, but I'm not completely sure he was joking.

I think we may have discovered Glenn's secret to not being affected by corked ports! Think about it....He was exposed to chemicals and was transformed with rare abilities (i.e. into a Super Hero ala Spiderman, and others). So, do you wear a cape when tasting port? [/quote]
I think you're on to something here

Super ability, or maybe those chemical receptors were just burned out.

Eric Menchen wrote:Super ability, or maybe those chemical receptors were just burned out.

This, I suspect.

One final possibility for the future: Put in a few drops of a good Automatic dishwashing detergent. Add very hot hot and let it sit over night. Amazing what that stuff will remove. No wonder they don't want you to hand wash dishes with it. It will dissolve burnt coffee residue from a glass pot left too long on the coffee maker. Rinse and rinse....

70% Nitric acid (HNO3). Best glass cleaner there is - cuts through scale, grease, stains, and all in no time at all (but handle with care..!)

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Nitric-Acid-70- ... 1330wt_904